


Rarer Action

by Rina_san28



Series: Overwatch Fluff Fest [10]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Forgiveness, Gen, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Multi, Overwatch Family, Post-Recall, Pregnancy, Rescue Missions, Team as Family, maybe Moiras's not such a dick after all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23414401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rina_san28/pseuds/Rina_san28
Summary: The new Overwatch couldn't stay secret forever.Or,In which an old enemy becomes a new friend.
Relationships: Emily & Moira O'Deorain, Emily/Lena "Tracer" Oxton, Jesse McCree & Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Series: Overwatch Fluff Fest [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1248356
Comments: 9
Kudos: 70





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is truly the beginning of the end! I hope you all are alright in quarantine right now, because I'm going nuts. 
> 
> This has been a work-in-progress for...too long. 
> 
> Time-wise, this takes place a little less than 2 years post-Recall.

Emily rolled onto her back with a sigh. Despite her best efforts, there were exactly zero positions that were comfortable. She glared at Lena, who snored loudly as if to emphasize that she was asleep and, at two o’clock in the morning, Emily was not.

“This is your fault,” she informed her belly. As if in response, she received a hard kick followed by a flurry that she liked to think of as sprinting. “Rude.” Groaning, she stood. “We’ll just take a little walk,” she whispered, “see if that calms you down, you rascal.” She grabbed one of Jesse’s donated (stolen) flannels, the only pair of shoes that currently fit, and, after a moment’s hesitation, her phone. With one wistful glance back at her sleeping wife, she slipped out the door.

The base, while quiet, wasn’t silent. There were too many people for that. Instead, the hallways had a hum to them, a feeling of life that Emily found worlds more comforting than the cheap flat she’d rented back in London. Even the doors, militarily uniform in just about everything, had been given touches of character by their occupants; Lúcio had posters of every piece of his album art, Hana and Brigitte had photos of their cat, but not a single door was bare.

Emily was nearing the lounge when her phone rang. Confused, she glanced down. No one she knew should have been awake, and even if they were, they would know better than to call in the middle of the night. It wasn’t a number she recognized and had no location. She ignored it.

The lounge, despite the hour, was occupied. “Hey there,” Emily said with a grin. “What’s keeping you up?”

Jack blinked, then grinned back. “Didn’t listen to Gabe’s advice about drinking coffee after ten,” he said. “Kicked me out of our room when I wouldn’t settle. You?”

“Your bloody grandchild!” Emily said, pointing to her bump. “She won’t stop moving, and when she does, she chills on my bladder.”

“Not great for sleeping, I’m guessing,” he said.

“Nope.” A glance at the clock prompted another regretful sigh. “I was going to make some tea. Would you like to join me?”

“I certainly couldn’t leave you lonely.” He set down his book – _American Gods_ , she noticed, water damaged and missing half its cover – and led the way back out into the hall. “Winston said you recovered more video footage?”

“I did,” she said. “Probably not the type you’re thinking, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you know that Genji went through a vlogging phase?”

Jack stared. “You didn’t.”

“I did!” Emily said gleefully. “I think I have all of it. It was on a smattering of data drives I found in a storage container. I’m willing to bet they got misplaced when he left Blackwatch. Don’t worry, he said we could keep them.”

“I need to see those,” Jack said, “for personal reasons.”

“You’ll love it,” she assured him. “They’re actually fairly useful. He filmed throughout the day, so that includes training, non-classified meetings, downtime with-”

Her phone rang again. It claimed to be coming from Italy, strangely enough, and she rolled her eyes as she pocketed it with mental shrug.

“What’s that?” Jack asked.

“That’s the second strange call I’ve gotten tonight,” she explained. “The first one didn’t have a location, but this one said Italy.”

“That’s weird.”

She shrugged. “I’m not too fussed about it.”

Emily led him into the kitchen and got to work making tea. To her great relief, he guessed at what she was going for and fetched the electric kettle from the pesky lower cabinets she could no longer reach. For the most part, they kept quiet, simply enjoying each other’s company.

Right as the kettle went off, her phone rang a third time. “Good lord!” she grumbled, pulling it out. “Telemarketers. You’d think they’d at least check the-” She froze. “…time.”

The screen read _Auntie._

“Emily?”

That wasn’t right. Her aunt had been dead for years. How could she be calling?

“Em, sweetie, you’re scaring me-”

There was one way to find out.

She answered the phone. “Hello?”

_“Ah. I was wondering when you would finally pick up.”_ The voice was chilling, and she grabbed the counter for support. _“I should have used this phone first, hmm?”_

“Who is this?” Emily asked shakily. Distantly, she was aware of Jack rubbing her back, but she pushed it aside.

_“Yes, how rude of me. My name is Doomfist. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”_

“You’d better have a good reason for calling me at two in the bleeding morning,” she snapped, trying to sound bolder than she actually was. She moved the phone to the side Jack was standing on, a silent invitation for him to listen in.

_“Oh, I do. You see, I was not aware that your late aunt had more relations than that troublesome wife of hers. I might have called you sooner. As it is, I think now is a good time. Aunt Moira would like to say ‘hello,’ wouldn’t you Doctor?”_ There was a beat of silence, then a _thud_ and a quiet, pained groan. _“Say hello, Doctor.”_

A new voice came, this one wrenchingly familiar. _“Emily, a leanbh, please, hang up the phone-”_

_“That’s enough.”_ There was a yelp, and Emily bit down on her hand to keep from screaming. _“Dr. O’Deorain has never been good at following directions. If she had programmed certain assets as she was instructed, she wouldn’t be in this mess. I will offer you an opportunity,”_ Doomfist continued. _“You can save your aunt. There are four people you likely know very well that belong to me. I would like them back. Return them, and I will send your aunt back to Ireland. If you fail…you are a smart young lady, Miss Howell. You seventy-two hours. See you soon.”_ The line went dead.

Emily slowly lowered the phone, meeting Jack’s eyes. “I have a lot to tell you.”

\-----

Jesse stared at Emily. “I’m sorry,” he said, “when exactly were you plannin’ on tellin’ us O’Deorain was your aunt?”

“I thought you knew!” Emily said helplessly. “She said you’d seen her editing my art history thesis after a mission and told you about me.”

“She is correct,” Genji said. “And then we found out she was a widow. The conversation ended very quickly after that.”

“Never gave a last name, though,” Jesse pointed out. He shook his head. “Anyhoo, that ain’t the problem right now. The problem is that Doomfist wants his favorite toys back or O’Deorain’s gonna meet the maker a lot sooner than expected. We all knew this’s been buildin’ up for a while, and I think it’s time to face the music.”

“We have to meet them head-on,” Winston said grimly.

“Exactly.” Jesse met the eyes of every person in the room. “When you answered this call,” he said, “it was with the intention to protect folks and give ‘em one more go at life. All of in here are on our second, third, maybe fifth chance. Someone offered us those, and now it’s time to offer that to someone else.” He locked eyes with Gabriel. “I know none of us’re too certain about O’Deorain,” he said softly, “but goddammit, we can’t just let her die.”

For a moment, his father simply looked at him. There was sadness in those eyes, a good dose of fear as well, but every line in his body read pride.

Gabriel nodded. “Let’s bring her home.”

“Then we’ve got work to do. Angela?”

The doctor straightened, battle-ready. “Yes?”

“Do we have anybody who absolutely can’t go into the field?”

“Ana and Amélie,” she said. “They are still on medical leave from the South Africa mission.”

“I can fight!” Amélie protested, half standing from her chair before Olivia’s hand on her shoulder pushed her right back down.

Angela glared at her. “You broke two bones in your right arm, three ribs, and tore a ligament in your left shoulder. You are not in any condition to fight.”

“Can they be on ground team?” Jesse asked.

“As long as they do not physically strain themselves,” Angela said.

He nodded. “Alright. Emily and Sam, would you two mind joinin’ ‘em?” They nodded. “And Sojourn, for old times’ sake, how about you take home lead?”

Sojourn grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”

“Olivia, what are we lookin’ at for layout?”

Olivia opened her screens and projected a model of Talon’s headquarters on the table. “The cells are split equally on the far sides of the lower level with administration in between,” she said, highlighting the areas in question. “Once a team gets in, they will not have much time before they’re noticed, so two search teams would be best.”

“We probably want stealth here,” Jesse said. “I say stick with four per team. Considerin’ the risks, I want at least one Blackwatch and one Talon ex-pat in each one, too, plus a healer.”

Genji raised a hand. “I’ll lead one team.”

“And I’ll take the other,” Jesse said. “The rest of you stealth folks can pick your favorite.”

“Hanzo and I will join Genji,” Zenyatta said.

“Olivia, go with them, pretty please,” Jesse requested, and received a nod in response. “And my team?”

“Count me in,” Gabriel said. “Gotta make sure you keep outta trouble somehow.”

“I will go, as well,” Angela volunteered.

To Jesse’s shock, Satya raised her hand. “I was trained in stealth,” she said. “and if Dr. O’Deorain is too injured to walk, then I will be able to transport her out with hard-light.”

“I like the way you think,” Jesse said. “Ana, you be contact for Genji’s team, and Amé, if you’d take mine, that’d be dandy.”

“We need distraction teams now more than ever,” Jack said. “Ground teams have to be flashy – I’m talking bombs, shields, half-baked weapons, the works. How many people have we got left?”

Jesse did a quick count. “Thirteen.”

“Two teams of six, then, plus two pilots for drop-off and extraction.”

“I’ll fly one if Echo flies the other,” Mirembe offered. Lena gave them a grateful thumbs-up.

“Great.” Without looking, Jack easily caught the roster Jesse chucked at him. “Lena, you fly us in and lead the one team, and…Fareeha, you want the other?”

“Um, yeah!”

“Okay, kids, pick your favorites.”

They settled fairly quickly, with Lena taking Lúcio, Mei, Reinhardt, Winston, and Baptiste, while Fareeha took Jack, Torbjörn, Brigitte, Hana, and Aleks.

“And for the contacts,” Jack said, “let’s have Sam take Lena’s team and Emily take Fareeha’s. Does that work for everyone?” Nods all around. “Any details anybody wants to throw in?”

Satya produced two small sets of teleporter bases from under the table. “Each extraction team should have these,” she said, “for quick extraction. Place the silver one in a spot that would not harm you to stand and keep the blue on your person. If you must leave the silver behind, destroy the blue; that is the one that holds the location data.” At Genji’s nod of understanding, she handed a pair to Olivia.

“Also,” Emily said quietly, “Aunt Moira will probably be scared and suspicious. Tell her there’s a _beart_ _bláthanna_ waiting for her. It’s what she used to call Lena and I.”

“Will do,” Jesse said, as reassuring as he could possibly manage. “We’ll get her back here, Em, cross my heart.”

The smile he received was tremulous, but still a smile.

He took a deep breath in and squared his shoulders. “Okay, folks,” he said. “Let’s end this once and for all. Suit up and be in the drop ships, buckled in, in one hour. Now git!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Writing Notes:**  
>  1) Life continues in the Overwatch base for Emily and Lena.  
> 2) Jack is a terrible insomniac and Gabe just wants his beauty sleep goddammit!  
> 3) I just think Genji with a vlog would be hilarious.  
> 4) I got the idea for Emily being Moira's niece from a series called The Townhouse by ODeorainFan2150. It's a sweet little Moicy series, so if that's your jam I'd giver it a read.  
> 5) This is one of those times where Emily and Lena are sitting there like "yeah this is a convo we should've had sooner..."  
> 6) To clarify, Lena absolutely knew and in fact had many a dinner at Moira's house. Apart from the whole Talon thing they get along alright.  
> 7) The biggest difference between Overwatch and Talon is that, at the end of the day, Overwatch believes that every person can be saved and will try its best to get everyone out alive, whereas Talon sees people to be expendable.  
> 8) The extraction teams are [Genji, Hanzo, Zen, Sombra] and [Jesse, Gabe, Satya, Angela].  
> 9) The ground teams are [Fareeha, Jack, Brigitte, Hana Torb, Aleks] and [Lena, Rein, Winston, Mei, Lucio, Baptiste].  
> 10) The "code" Emily gives Jack means a boquet of flowers in Irish. Lena's English (rose) and Emily's Welsh (daffodil) raised by Scots (a thistle) and Moira nicknamed them as such. ("The whole _beart bláthanna_ is coming to dinner tonight.") 
> 
> See you in the next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter two! 
> 
> **MILD WARNING** There is discussion of major injury in this chapter, but it is brief. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Of all the places Gabriel could have possibly been on a Thursday morning, crawling through a small passageway into a building that had been his personal hell for five-ish years was low on his list. The fact that he was in search of the woman that before the events of the previous night he had believed to be a being of pure evil with no hope of redemption dropped it even lower. But, if Emily was right and Moira had been pressed like the rest of them, deliberately disobeying orders meant to turn him and Amélie into emotionless zombies, could he live with himself if he simply left her to whatever fate was looming over her head?

No. No, he couldn’t.

Ahead of him, Jesse’s tiny holomap flickered in and out of existence. “Two more turns,” the cowboy called back, “left, then right. We’ll have about an eight-foot drop, so be careful and quiet.”

The last stretch felt like it lasted for years, but finally Gabriel was swinging down out of the maintenance tunnel and into the main hallway of the detention block. Satya pulled a small hard-light device out of her belt pouch and stuck it to a nearby wall monitor, then plucked it back off when it beeped.

“Did you make that?” Gabriel asked, looking closer as data flew past on its tiny screen. “It’s neat.”

“I designed it on the way here,” she said. “It should make this search a little bit quicker.” It beeped again, the flow of text stopping on a highlighted phrase. “Corridor four, cell F.”

Gabriel cursed. “Death row. We’ve gotta be fast. C’mon, to the left.”

They hurried as quickly and quietly as they possibly could, and he prayed to any god that was listening that no one had a sudden urge to take a stroll through the halls. When they reached the corridor, Jesse cautiously stuck his head out, looked both ways, and waved them down to the right.

“Should be this one,” he said. “I’ll just work my magic here…” With a flourish that came through endless practice, he slid a card up under the keypad, gave it a tap and a bump, and the pad dropped into his hand as the door slid open. “Like a charm.”

Angela gasped and darted into the room, Satya hot on her heels. Once Gabriel got a peek in, he could instantly see why. Moira was…not looking great. Her face was bruised, one eye was scarred and swollen shut, a hitch in her breathing indicated broken ribs, and when Angela shifted, he could see an empty sleeve where her right arm had been.

“Amé, we’ve got her,” Jesse said grimly into his comm. “It ain’t pretty.”

_“We didn’t expect it to be,”_ Amélie’s voice crackled in Gabriel’s ear. _“I will notify the other team. Once she is ready to be moved, let me know.”_

“You got it.”

“Moira,” Angela whispered, lightly tapping the woman’s cheek. “Moira, wake up please.”

“…I don’t want to,” came a grumble, and Angela sat back on her heels in relief.

“We need you to sit up so we can get you outta here,” Jesse said. “Think you can do that?”

Moira’s brow crinkled, and a blue eye cracked open to squint at the people surrounding her. “What in hell are you doing here?” she rasped.

“There’s a _beart_ _bláthanna_ waiting for you back at base,” Gabriel said. “Figured you’d wanna go see it.”

There was a moment of silence, then Moira slowly uncurled from her fetal position and leaned against the back wall. “She was with you?”

Gabriel nodded. “We’ll tell you all about it on the way home, alright? Let’s get you patched up and out of this hellhole.”

“I won’t be able to walk.”

“That’s what Satya’s for.” On cue, Satya began piecing together a hard-light…something. “Be a good patient.”

The two doctors spoke in low voices as Angela lined the other woman’s remaining arm in biotic patches, then began relaying a list of medical orders to Amélie for prep. There was something unsettling about seeing the ever-capable Dr. O’Deorain helpless on a steel grate floor. Gabriel felt his guts twist and abruptly turned away to take watch at the door.

_“Gabriel, Genji’s team’s extracting now,”_ Sojourn reported. _“Mirembe’s doing her best, but there’s a large Talon force engaging the other teams. You may need to wait.”_

It took everything in him not to turn around. “To be brutally honest, So, I dunno how long we _can_ wait. She’s in real bad shape.”

_“She’s in the hands of Dr. Angela Ziegler. There are worse places to be. Sojourn out.”_

Jesse signed off of his call with Amélie and joined him at the door. “What’d she have to say?”

“Ground teams are in trouble,” Gabriel said. “Pick-up’s gonna be late.”

“Figures. We didn’t fuck up the infiltration, so I guess we had to pay the toll.”

“Don’t jinx us, _mijo,_ we’re in the clear for now. It’s the rest I’m worried about.”

Before Jesse could offer anything further, Satya stepped between them. “Ready.”

“Then let’s move.”

\-----

“Fareeha, on your six!” 

_“I see them!”_ The early morning sun glinted off the Raptora as its pilot wheeled around and obliterated the trio of bots on her tail. _“You alright down there old man?”_

“I’m hangin’ in,” Jack grunted. He slammed another cartridge into his rifle and took out a trooper who got a bit too close for comfort. “Everybody else okay?”

_“Mildly stressed, not gonna lie,”_ Brigitte said. _“Kinda need to pee.”_

_“Thank you for sharing,”_ Aleks deadpanned.

Hana let out a string of angry Korean followed by a heavy sigh. _“Babe, now_ I _have to pee.”_

_“Now is hardly the time for this!”_ Torbjörn snapped, turret fire audible over his feed. _“In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve got a whole army on our tails!”_

_“Yeah, between me and the toilet.”_

“Any word from Sojourn?” Jack asked, desperately trying to change the topic.

_“Nothing since Jesse’s team found the cell,”_ Fareeha said grimly. _“I asked for details on her condition, but if it’s taking this long I doubt the news is good.”_

“Maybe we’ll get-”

_“All units,”_ Sojourn’s voice crackled over the earpiece, _“Jesse’s team is currently extracting O’Deorain from the rear of the building. She’s in bad shape, so if you can draw as much of their attention as you can, that would be great.”_

Jack tapped his call button twice to signal the affirmative, then rung up Emily. “Hey there, sweetie. You doin’ okay?”

_“Just worried,”_ she said, but he could hear the tension in her voice. _“The baby seems to like all this business, though – she’s been kicking up a storm.”_

“Sounds like a future agent to me.” Jack joked. A nearby explosion drew his attention to a fresh wave of troopers. “Hang in there, we’ll all be home soon.”

_“You’d better. Base out.”_

\-----

Time always moved strangely during missions. When he’d first started, way back when he was an angry, frightened teenager, every mission had flown past with him struggling to keep up. Once he’d gotten better, they were more manageable. But sometimes, just sometimes, they were an eternity.

This, Jesse thought, was one of those times.

He was curled up under a ledge, close enough to the outdoors he could almost taste it. Just to his left, Moira’s labored breathing rung in his ears, and he found himself reflexively grabbing her remaining hand whenever she let out a muffled moan of pain.

“You don’t have to keep doing that,” she finally said out of gritted teeth. “I don’t need your pity.”

“Losin’ an arm is no joke, Doc,” he said. “Figured I could at least offer some understandin’.”

She squinted up at him. “McCree, you have two arms.”

“One ‘n a half, now.” He lifted his left to show her the replacement. “We can swap stories when you’re all healed up, sound alright?”

“Why are you being so…friendly? I ruined your father.”

Jesse shrugged. “Eh, I’ve seen his medical files. He was already pretty fucked up.” He paused. “I’m not gonna lie, I’ve got a bone or two to pick with you, but my sister-in-law speaks pretty highly of you so I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt.”

_“There is better cover five yards forward in the tree line,”_ Amélie interrupted. _“Get there as fast as possible. I have concerns about your current positions.”_

“What sort of concerns?” Satya asked.

_“Move now!”_

Not needing any further prompting, Jesse scooped Moira out of her hard-light wheelchair and sprinted towards the indicated spot, the rest of the team hot on his heels. He barely made it halfway before an explosion threw him to his knees. 

“Keep going!” Gabriel screamed. “Go go go go go!”

Satya yanked him up by the elbow, helping to resettle Moira before taking off running again. As they dove one-by-one into the bushes, he could hear her doing a headcount with a sigh of relief as Gabriel tossed himself down behind cover.

“Well I’ll be,” Jesse said, setting Moira down as gently as possible, “We McFreakin’ made it.”

“If you ever say that again,” Satya said, “I will punch you in the throat.”

Gabriel snorted. “‘Atta girl.”

“Is everyone alright?” Angela asked. Her usual ponytail had broken loose, letting her hair fall down around her shoulders. “No new catastrophic injuries?”

“Just a little singed, that’s all,” Gabriel said, presenting his leg for inspection. “I’m fine for now but it’ll hurt like a bitch later.”

“Amélie,” Jesse asked, “what next?”

_“Genji’s team is en route to your position,”_ she said. _“They should be in sight-range momentarily. Once you meet up, there is a clearing ten yards further in. Mirembe will pick you up from there.”_

“What about the ground teams?”

_“I don’t know, Jesse. Désolé.”_

\-----

_“I’m running low on rockets,”_ Fareeha reported grimly, _“and from up here all I see is more Elites and OR-15s.”_

Jack cursed. “How many more runs have you got, kid?”

_“Maybe ten.”_

Dammit.

_“Jack, Torb’s running low on spare turret parts,”_ Emily crackled over the comm, _“so if anyone could salvage an omnic or four that would be grand.”_ From off to the left cam a cry of “medic!”, sending Brigitte sprinting over, and above him Hana shot past in her mech, two little flying bots hot on her heels.

They were running out of time.

“Em,” Jack said, “I may have to do something crazy. Don’t tell Gabe.”

_“I am absolutely telling Gabe. What the hell are you on about?”_

“Don’t worry about it.”

_“I’m worrying about it, Dad!”_

He loaded his rifle, checked his stock, and braced himself for what was surely about to be incredibly painful. “Nah, it’s gonna be fine, just-” Before he could start the charge, he was suddenly yanked further behind cover.

“Don’t you worry, base,” said a familiar voice. “Sergeant Nicoli reporting in. Commander’s not doing anything stupid on my watch.”

Jack whipped around and was greeted by a wide, sparkling grin. “Maddelena?”

“In the flesh,” she said. “How rude of you, very much alive and you didn’t once write. I’m hurt.”

“I didn’t – what?” He accepted the water bottle she offered and took a long swig. “Winston said you turned down the recall.”

“I was three days postpartum,” she said dryly. “Somehow I do not think Overwatch would have appreciated a pair of screaming newborns.”

“You’d be surprised.” Jack stood, pumped a nulltrooper squad full of bullets, and dropped back down again. “You came at a bad time. We’re outnumbered by…a lot.”

“I see that,” Maddelena replied, peeking out around the wall. “Is this all you have? Six people?”

“Little over two dozen.”

“You’ve got more than that now,” she said, and whipped out a comm of her own. _“Subito!”_

A shout came from behind them, and Jack’s jaw dropped in shock as waves of his old troops poured out to counter Talon’s forces. Medics, foot soldiers, lieutenants, sergeants, strategists, all rushing in endless waves to the defense of their family.

“I…Maddie, _how?”_ he whispered.

Maddelena squeezed his shoulder. “I’ll fill you in later,” she promised. “We have some butt to kick.”

\-----

The sun peaked on a ruin. The Talon headquarters was a wreck, and as the last Overwatch-emblazoned transport left Rome, authorities and news agencies alike swarmed like flies. _“Removal of a blight,”_ locals called it. Others cried out against the “dangerous vigilantes,” while still more heaped praise on the “civilians” who put an end to the fray.

A UN address released by evening.

_It is clear, in fact undeniable, that Overwatch activity has resumed. In what capacity is not yet known. While such activity is indeed illegal under the Petras Act of 2071, it has become obvious to the members of this body that there is much to consider and debate. An investigation is ongoing. Any persons with information are encouraged to share._

\-----

Emily hummed softly, rocking in the chair Aleks had brought in for her as she patiently waited for the slightest motion from the woman on the hospital bed beside her. The urgency with which Baptiste and Angela had taken Moira away had been alarming. Even still, her aunt was not out of the woods, but she was at least breathing independently, a vast improvement from when Emily had taken up her vigil.

She could do nothing but wait.

“Emily?”

She looked up, smiling as she saw Genji hovering in the doorway. “Yes?”

“Sam’s stress-baking. Do you want chocolate chip or snickerdoodles?”

“…Is both an option?”

He grinned. “Both is always an option. I’ll bring you some when the carnage stops.”

“You’re a gem!” she called after him.

“More like a blunt stone.”

“Aunt Moira!” Emily shot out of her chair and knelt by the woman’s bed. “God, I was so scared. Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“After my wife, how could I?” Moira reached up, running a soothing hand through Emily’s hair. “Hush, little one, I’m alright. Just sore.”

“You’ll be sore for a right while, Angie says.”

“I’m used to it.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

Silence reigned as the two studied each other, their years apart suddenly the length of a millennia. Emily took in the deep scars around her aunt’s left eye, the crows feet, the worry lines, the sunken cheeks. Time had not been kind to the woman who had once cared for her like a mother.

“What’s this, now?” Moira murmured, lifting her left hand. “Is that a wedding band, dove?”

“A year and a bit married now,” Emily laughed, tears nipping at the corners of her eyes. “That’s not the only surprise.” She pressed Moira’s hand against the swell of her belly, watching the shock on her face as the babe inside twisted around to say hello. “I’m due in June.”

“Your aunt would be so proud,” Moira whispered, and Emily broke. “Shh, shh, little one. I know. I know.”

“I’m glad you’re home.”

“…I am, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Writing Notes:**   
> 1) Does Gabriel trust Moira? No. But does he trust and care about Emily and Lena to go and retrieve her? Hell yes.   
> 2) One thing I tried to make clear in this series, especially so in this chapter, is that Jack and Gabriel, and to a lesser extent Ana, are taking a more backseat role and letting the next generation take the lead. They've done their time.   
> 3) Moira's eternal state is Dr. Grumpy-Gills, so the sass is a huge relief.   
> 4) Since Angela and Moira would have both worked in medical, I like to believe that before everything went wrong, the two of them were friends of a sort. Do remember that Moira was not the only person who used Angela's nanotech in ways that she didn't approve of - Torb and Ana were also guilty of that.   
> 5) Moira is terrified that Overwatch has come to "do the job" before Talon got the chance to. Emily's little key-code is a godsend.   
> 6) Brigitte, Hana, Aleks, and Fareeha are generally in the same age-range. They're also a great deal more relaxed than the old guard.   
> 7) Jesse strikes me as a pretty honest guy. He's not going to pretend that he's suddenly totally fine with Moira, but he's willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until he gets the full story. It is possible that what Moira did to Gabe may have saved his life given the breakdown of his cells, and Jesse understands this.   
> 8) The return of McFreakin'. This gag was, no joke, the first part of this entire fic that I wrote.   
> 9) Surely not everyone involved in the Recall could just drop everything and join an illegal paramilitary organization. Maddelena Nicoli, who is of my own creation, was one of those people. Ex-Overwatch people know Overwatch when they see it. Reinhardt is very distinctive.   
> 10) The UN has to have realized at some point that they fucked up. They just didn't want to admit it until they had to, and now it's looking like they need to.   
> 11) Moira's got a long road ahead of her, but at least she has people she knows for sure she can trust. 
> 
> Since my quarantine started 3 weeks ago (thanks coronavirus) I've been thinking a lot about how I want the rest of the series to work. I've decided that in the Overwatch Fluff Fest series, there will be one more work to place the final piece of the puzzle. However, I'm not done with this sandbox quite yet, so any additional works will go into an OWFF Appendices series, which will have fics outside the main plot. Tentatively, any fics outside the main plot that are currently in this series will stay here, but will also be added to that series for clarification. Any feedback on this would be great if you have it. 
> 
> I can be found on Tumblr as rina-san28 and Twitter as @Madds_rosie! Come say hello!


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